Science Funding Survives Stimulus Cuts

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Science Funding Survives Stimulus Cuts

Despite Congressional attempts to make science funding a casualty in their shrinking of the economic stimulus plan, the bill signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama contains more than $20 billion for science.

During his inaugural address, Obama promised to "restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost." America, he said, would "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."

The stimulus plan, originally budgeted at more than $1 trillion, was Obama's first chance to make good on this promise. However, legislators in both the House and Senate included science-related funding among their proposed trimmings.

The final plan will cost $787 billion. Fortunately for science — and for an economy whose recovery may be tied to developments in clean energy, along with people whose health may be saved by medical advances — Congressional attempts to scrap science were unsuccessful.

The final NIH budget, for example, contains $10.4 billion; the House version of the package allotted them just $3.9 billion. The National Science Foundation will receive $3 billion dollars, up from $1.2 billion in the Senate version.

Altogether, research and development accounts for $21.5 billion — up from $13.2 billion in the House and $17.8 billion in the Senate. Most of the money will go to biomedical, energy and climate research.

The budget figures were collated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science's R&D Budget and Policy Program. Their in-depth funding breakdown is here.